Timelinez

TIMELINE Z

Volume 2 Issue 3 March 1984 been $1.00

TIMEX SITUATION REPORT USER GROUP INFORMATION
COME TO THE FAIRE CARD SHUFFLE ROUTINES

2068 GRAPHICS EXPLORED SPARE PARTS ORDER FORM

rj = i = P= ss = pg prug! tie oe my
TY SMe See TS Taf So Ure ee cc oe
bi | H “3 = Pp “hatter | onl ag =
BUT WEEE -GOoO ON COMPUTER FAIRE.
in = SuUrerise announcement an Kuchet & oF
Feb, 22, Timex said it was e Thee s he th
discontinuing sproductian an alt ue gt the r
Linés OF its Rame computers, e if: Sar =
Thit Came af Quite @ Shock tao 9 fRente a See ae a z
the Bay Ares iiser Gra GUE MEMES. A: Sem ry =
ESrecisaiiy thase who asttended i = & riches
the wien. Sao, Bay meeting where Po Sie & cas
iformer} Timex.UP, Billy Skurme, Four dSus The
Gave 3 VErYU EMPrEestive presen be Ofer:
tation fFesturing many excitina
vecon-to-be-reteased” products There, Mares “Se. "es to Fert
For the 2865. Mr. Skyrme was Fri. Mere 25, 2e: LoS
Subsequentiy iet goa by Timex Bat, March ad ig to 08
aiang with mare than 228 ather Suri March 25 if ra. =
computer division emp LOYEes .
o See hardware 3
C. Michael dacabi, UP aF =: Ch CS 5. -EBips. °c &i and
Marketing and sates, faid Timex = are wilt &i4 he
withdrew because af negative =
Future progjectians cancerning
the home computer market. He Eric Reiter if 2c
Said “the ifidustryu if Gon @ Speak at one oF ft
kamikaze path.” He was Oni Scientifti€ Ps
comcernéed that Future price riled on a Shoestring 6
could “cause the value oF ifiven-— shoestring budaet
tories ta dectiine, making it a TyS TESG. “8? ecoerse
agifFicult ta make 4 fréeastanabte
Profit.” -Timex said it would Gur booth wiki F .
canmtinue to make computers far Club members 3 d i
other manufacturers. WOU Wish to he e
please calt Bab t
Some analysts have ats the “day at (428) j
speculated that Timex was hurt Witi have sisgn-
because it had taken Little reqitterinad mew or
interest in sSupparting its OF THe. cisces.
users. A Neu Yark Times articie
guGaites ane camputer aquner as Sete us st the Faire!
Sauaing, “When you called ta ask
amy téechnicai questions, their
attitude was toc damn bad.*”

Teo Seo

This same uncooperative attitude

Was encountered by many of the

4O8 companies that sell programs

and peripherat equi et For

the Timex machines. imex’s > ity ra
overall philosophy seemed to be Boer eae tan I
Changing in the last few months, SINCLAIR USER hj
but apparentiy the damage had SAN FRANCIsca -

already been dane. AREA. QLO AND N

MRE ALWAYS YELCOME

now? AS we HAROCWRRE, SOFTWRRE .
anly been & COMPUTER BEGINNERS.
nce the : AT THE NEXT MEETING.
“8G far, we
any other

bly taking aver
tian afF the
imex. If anyone

(CONT. ON BACK PAGE) [17]

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IMELINE=

A BOOK REWVIEL by Welt Gaby

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White the Teri 2868 has orniy beer
on the market for a Short time,
there sre already 3B books avaii-c
abie wikich relat to this comeu-
Lof Th SUBVEC of this review
if & book e€rititte

I

sk

PHICS:

THz Mm imal om iT

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3
Ba)
ing
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se
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ik Company
ark, Neil.

09

FLthough unimportant, there are
S&S Couple of things Which reflect
the rush af publishing this daoc-
umemt: 13) the cover features a
Ficture of the TrS 2848! and (2)
the text uses the word “calour
threughaut indicating that the
book if &@ Quick re-write of one
for the Spectrum).
TRe contents af this book, not
SUrPrizingiu, can be Summarized
from its table of contents

Ceoiaur Plotting

High Fesctlution Graphics

Srarph Platting

WEing the Uidea Memary

Scaling and Stretching

Roteting end Moving

SD Displays
TRE bOGkR contains a total of 45
Programs, Each if accompanied buy
a Sumnsary of the program struc-
ture and an xample of the aut-
PUT, .

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it

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For those who

developing ekki
techniques tbe
Frovidéed in th
thig book i

Somee®
‘eo

Af an example of the technical
quality Of this book, there fai-
tows &@ VWEry nice Little program

Which takes the drudgery aut «a
peel ene user-defined charac-
ers.

But fF
itsel

~

oo Et, & Copy of the screen

PRODUCING GRAPHICS ON THE 2068

CHARACTER NUMBER
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| USE arRous To MOVE CURSOR [4] |
i i
| PRESS: "A" TO ADD A PIXEL
"D' TO DELETE A PIXEL |
| “N' FOR NEW CHARACTER |
T
i

Fu omoving the cursor end kitting
A igdd: ar BD idélete!,. one can
dEfzignm = 2pEeciat character in:
the Bx grid af 64 bits. An =o
ceuses the 29uaerée tao became dark
pblué and = “DR makes it white
#2GSin. FE you design. the cher-
ecter sisa evoives fat iti mor-
mal S376) iff &B pete to the Lert
Sf-Ahe ‘grid. tFor what it meu be
worth, the display aieta presente
the decimei vetivue of €8Ch aF the
fGighnt butes.}

tip to £2 f€parate characters can
be aeligned. TRESE Charecters
aré therm eveilabpie, through the
Graphics mode BY vsting Letters
A through Li,

With minor exceptions, the Fra-
Gran presented is Hampthiréet:
Iheve 217RP Ly Made it & bit more
Friénaiy fLinés 8180-870) ana
have Erovided an Exit t(lines 298
and 2820:.

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LAsREM 4S SESHSESEEHEXSEE TEE
2A REM = CHARACTER ECITOR ¥
SQ REM + BY NICK HAMPSHIRE *
48 REM + Fram. +
SQ REM + Tri COLOR GRAPHICS +
EA REM £F4 Sete tFFEESEHEEEEESHE
7@ INF @
BQ PAPER F
L140 LET -%230: LET Yes
1185 CIM C18!
122°: CLS : GO SUB 1000
ise PRINT AT &,6;" a
125 FRINT AT 17,5; "INPUT CHARAC
TER NUMBER"
re PRINT AT 18,9; "(FROM 1 TO 2
. :
JEQ@ INPUT ¢
155 IF fii GR C321 THEN GO TO 1
58 ;
368 CLE
178 Ga SUE ie8@a
188:60 SUB Fae
1508 Go Ta 448
Zi IF INKEY$="" THEN GO TO 218
245... 67 XGSx* Leto aie,
220 IF IHKEY$="A" THEN GO Ta 5a
[a
23Q@ IF INKEY$="D" THEN GO TO 68
@
240 IF INKEY$="5" THEN LET x=x-
4:--¢GO TO See
25@ IF INKEY$="6" THEN LET Y=¥+
i: Go To 3ee
zea IF INKEYS$="?' THEN LET Yev¥-
1: 6 TO 3ae
Bra IF INKEY$="6" THEN LET x=x+
4: GO TO 30
S2Q IF INKEYS$="N" THEN GO TO 18
e
aa IF INKEYS$="E" THEN GO TO 20
e
225 G2 TO 28e
3S4Q IF x*<18@ THEN LET x=18
3DQ:IF X>17 THEN LET xX=2=17
Ss0. IF <6 THEN LET Y=6
S40 IF ¥;:13 THEN LET Y=1s
410 LET xC=sxOee: LET YC=t2ei1-y0)
+3

420 PLOT INVERSE 1; xC+2,7¥C4+4
425 DRAW INVERSE 2a

43Q@ PLOT INUERSE 1; XC+4,7YC+e2
425 DRAL INVERSE 1; @,4

440 LET xXC=X<8: LET ¥Csxi21i-¥) +6
45@ PLOT xC¢+2,yYC+4

460 DRAW 4,2

47@ PLOT xXC4+4,YC+2

48@ CORAL @,4¢

49@ GO TO 222

Sie@ LET Ge X+2e526+ (32 Yi)

Sia IF PEEK (6)}51@ THEN GO TO 2

Bo
oe IF PEEK (6) 28 THEN GO TO 28
S42 POKE @,12

55Q@ LET P=
S6@>60 SUE 982

S72 Go To 208

61le@ L O=KX4+l225238+ (32¢y¥)

Bee IF PEEK (@) =<56 THEN GO TO é2
a

630@ FORE @,56

642 LET P=

65@ GO SUB sag

6608 GO TO 202

1 OY COMIC dad mdd dnddd

3@ FOR G=64 TO 128 STEP &
is PLOT &@,6
2@ DRA 64,2
eS NEXT G
BG FOR G82 TO 144 ETEFP SA
35 PLOT 6,64
4@ DRAW @,64
45 NEXT G
5Q@ FOR @=1 TO &
SS PRINT AT @4+5,280;0 003
6@ WEST G
a
5:
e

PRINT AT 1,2; “SEER

Si PRINT as

22 PRINT AT 3712; "EXISTING sy"
BEQL: "CHR {1434C)

S30GQ PRINT AT 17,2; "PRESS an
To ADR A PIXEL"

@4@ PRINT AT 18,93; "°""D' To GEL
ETE PIXE.

S58 PRINT AT 15,2; "USE ARROUS T
O MOUE CURSOR [4] '

e6e8 PRIN iT AT 19,8;°°"N" FOR HE
Li CHARACTER”

S7@Q PRINT AT 28@,9;"°"°"E ae A
i

SHAQ FRINT AT 5,5;CHR$ (14340:
S30 RETURN

O1Q@ LET xUs?7-(x-18)

S45 LET Z=2txv

G20 LET Uey-5

O25 IF Fa=i THEN GO TO 842

$30 LET. Civ) =C (VU) 42

G35 Go To s45

Q4@ LET Cis =Ciy -Z

G45:FOR @=1 Ta &

OS@ PRINT AT &4+5,28; ;

O55 PRINT AT @45,280;0 16

G6G HEST @

G65 LET 2sU5F CHR$ (14340)

Oo708 FOR G=1 To &

O7S FORE 84:15-1).,000)

Q8@ WEST @

S65 PRINT AT ©,5;CHRS (14340:
S3@ RETURN
1@i@ PLOT @,8
1820 CRAL 255,28
1Q82a DRAW @,175
1048 CRA -255,.8
1aS5@ CAL @,-175
1060 RETURN
2000 CLS wie!

FWP SLE

Word Processing For your TINEx
2068 computer r204¢0 printer.

FEATURES: Headlines,
FULL Screen editor

At your dealer or:

Bob Orrfelt
3436 Bay Road. -.
Redwood City,Ca 94865

Price:

[MEL HES CARD SHUFFLE ROUTINE FOR GAMES 20
fann_sanes 1s Fast “4
20 GOSUE i900 FIG. 1
BY: WILLIAM GORDON eo Utt Seisse
38 FUR hel To Ss
wo £1: Sethe scat FO 23
Card games are interesting programming 40 LET Cgecgis TO
projects, but the random selection of ee ee
cards (shuffling the deck), can be SS 37
difficult. Assigning a card name of Or eas
value to a random number between one borate

and fifty-two is simple, but checking
for duplicate selection can be costly
in memory usage, and can require long
execution times, especially if a full
fifty-two cards are to be used.

The following subroutine in very eco-
nomical in both memory and execution
time. It occupies only 292 bytes af
program space, and will completely
randomize 32 card games in Jjust over
three seconds in "fast mode". I fewer
cards are needed, the routine runs even
faster.

Line 1008 sets up a string A$, con-
taining all 52 possible cards (Figure
1). Inverse characters are used for
spades and clubs for clarity. Note the
use of the letter T to represent 16.
Line 1663 initializes C8 where the
results will be stored in memory loc-
ation 1810, and can be altered for the
number of cards needed for the game to
be programmed. The remaining lines
pick a two-byte card representation
from AS at random and store them in CS.
Those two-bytes are then truncated from
A% and the routine loops back for an-
other selection. The final result is a
string C6 containing, in random order,
the representation for a series of
cards up to the nuaber specified in
Tine 1616.

1¢ RAM space is critical for execution

of your program, additional space in

the variables section may be gained by

adding 1635 let A@=’’’’. This is effec-
tive only if your game routine uses

less than the full deck. If all 532

cards are used, then AS has already

been fully collapsed by the routine.

Cards can now be used by taking two
byte slices out of C6, as illustrated
in Figures 2 and 3.

BI an article, review,

pear
fee me ee et

i965. LE “S$
1@i@ FOR W=1 Ta Se
1015 LET Cel+INT (RNDslEnN Agee)
14826 LET C$=C$+ASteeC-1 TO 240)
1Bet LET AsS=AG: TO H¢0-2) +A$ (240
41 To i
1620 NEST
1935 LET Ag=""
1040 FETURN
case nc aS a cE A OT
ae RARE
5 FAST
2@ GOSUE lace FIG. 2
25 DIM BRis.e2
SO FOR N=3-.70 6
40 LET BSthii =C#lSe4eH-1 TO Bethii
45 PRINT Bpitse sg ",
SO WE*#T
$5 STOP
Le00@ LET
TAK HEHE
(OSL
ent
eT
ti

14@1a FOR : m Se

e EET =1l¢+INT (RNDS¢lEW Ages)
10826 LET BeOCK$tAHFiSeC-1 TO 240)
Jass LET BoRGi TG S40-Si +A ifec

i} rT
ote
18e5 LE

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HPP HI SHIH HHH SHH HOH HH OH IH HHH HHH E
TIMNELINEZ is your news- =
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ee
—)
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cm

—.
a,

NIMELI ME2 Sau Area User Grove

Information

East Ba Z80 Oo Us r's PISA CEL BRODY
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WEST BRANCH OF Bae ce. MEPHEeTers

RY; WOoOoCy MCPRH =

THE BERKELEY _TBRARIAN . Miitetens MCPHEETERS

/ PUBLIC LIBRARY TEMEL INES

mn

TCK

CONCERNING
SENT TO:

LINK

- 1M

MEETINGS BEGIN 7:30 PM
NEXT MEETING —- MAR. 13

Pope age ARE Sie ON THE SRD
OF =e

MEET. ROOMS ARE ON LOWER FLOOR.

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BURL INGAME

The next SB meeting will be
Tuesday, Mar. 27, 1984 at
7 PM at Dysan Corporation
Headquarters, 5281 Patrick
Henry Dr, Santa Clara.

For Information contact

sawacnde goon sowae

SBAZUG President > Rita Carr
c/o TIMELINEZ
Box 1312
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(468) 738-2888 x4579

wep THE FOLLOWING INFO. WAS GATHERED BEFORE TIMEX STOPPED SALES.
*_ TIMELINEZ WAS TOLD THAT THE REPAIR FACILITIES WOULD STAY OPEN

IMELINME

If you feel that your system requires repairs, please proceed as follows:

1. Call our toll-free “hot-line" 1-800-24-TIMEX to confirm the need
for repair.

2. If the Technical Support Representative instructs you to return
the system for repair, please mail your computer to:

TIMEX Product Service Center
Building 19
Adams Field
Little Rock, Arkansas 72203

Please be sure to enclose a letter which outlines the problem (as
specifically as possible), with your name/address/zip code/telephone number/
serial number. We also recommend that you insure your computer to protect
it against shipment-related damage or loss.

To purchase extra support hardware, or replacement parts, please fill out
the enclosed form as indicated and send to: Timex Product Service Center,
Building #19, Adams Field, Little Rock, Arkansas 72203.

TIMEX COMPUTER CORPORATION
PIECE PART ORVER FORM

NAME : PLEASE SEND TO:

WO Se ge ees ee “LITTLE ROck PRODUCT SERVICE CENTER
a: oe Oe Ue BUILDING #19 - ADAMS FIELD
Vk oo ee LITTLE ROCK, ARKANSAS 72203

aril i aaron et OX nese Nag ag Le SE gee ne
C.P.U. Is 12.00 |340-8)090) |_| IRESISTOR 18K is 3.00 |330-B)0014l _| JUSER MANUAL Is 7.50 |330-011008 |__
U.L.A. ! 12.00 {330-885585/_| IRESISTOR. 560 ! 3.00 1330-8115031_| (GAME TV SWITCH 2.95 1330-01002 1__
R.O.M. ! 12.00 {330-8108531 _ |RESISTOR 270 ! 3.00 {330-sholnit_| | SCHEMATICS ! 2.50 1330-870503-1]_
2kS-RAM ! 10.00 1330-8115181_| IRESISTOR 10 3.00 |330-811506|_| [isk Ras pants) | |
ODULATOR ! 9.00 {330-8115081_| | CAPAC LTOR GLASS se. 3.00 {330-e10v011_| ID-AMA ! 6.00 1331-812009 1
KEYBOARD j__7.50 {330-811818)_| ICAPAC LTOR GLASS _10N. |_3:00 |390-Blo1021_} in¢-0¢ TRANSFORMER ! 6.00 |331-819010 |
ICASE_ASSEMBLY | 7.50 |330-9888541_ LCAPAC LTOR GLASS 7m. 3.00 {330-8101031_| ICASE ASSEMBLY 5.00 1331-55585 |__
ESISTOR 407 |___ 3.00 _|330-810001|__| {CAPACITOR ELEC. Sov_|__ 3.00 [230-2011 |__| {1.C. DATA SELECT | 6.00 133)-B1201 1
RESISTOR 680 3.00 {330-s10003|_| |capActTon ELEC. 16V 3.00 |330-810152|__ | f1.C. ASC BINARY cr | 6.00 1331-812010 |.
RESISTOR 10K 3.00 {330-s100081__| {capaci Ton ELEC. 1000. | 3.00 |330-8101531_| J1.C. QUAD INPUT 6.00 133)-612012 1
RESISTOR 2.2K | 3.00 {330-810005|_| | CAPACITOR GLASS am.F| 3.00 {330-8115001 _| lhc. QUAD _INP.& aAte| 6.00 1331-812013 |_
RESISTOR _1K | 3.00 ism-s1ooel_| lapacton CER.470°.F | 3.00 [a-enisan}_| zz CONNECTOR 7.50 {331-615020 =
ESISTOR 1M | 3.00 1330-10007 _| LTRANS LSTOR | 3.00 |330-810751 | [SES ZTX TRAN. BASE | 3.00 1391-819020 1__
RESISTOR 220K 3.00 {330-810008 |_| | Jack 3.00 1330-s108011_| {Seven cs - 2.50 1391-870804-1|_
RESISTOR 330 3.00 |330-810009|_| |PoweR SUPPLY 6.95 |330-017003}_| jrRtntes PAPER 7.95 1332-09602 _ |__
ESISTOR 4.7%K _|_‘ 3.00 |330-e100101 _| JOUAL AUDIO CABLE {__ 4.95 1330-01108 _| ; —
ESISTOR 220 3.00 |s30-s100111_| coax CABLE 4.95 |330-011005| _| { i ee os
4702e

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THE MACHINE-LANGUAGE
DEMYSTIFICATION CLASS

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Menlo Park, CA 94025

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IMELIMES

Things I’ve Tried

Usually the products I write about
in this column are picked from a stack
of press releases sent each month to
DDJ. { rarely have the product in front
of me when writing about it, and de-
scriptions here are not intended to be
endorsements.

Once in a while I do get the oppor-
tunity to try out products, and I'd like
to share a few with you.

You may have gathered from pre-
vious columns that I like inexpensive
computers, particularly the Timex
products. One of the wonderful things
you can do with a TS1000 or 1500 is
learn Z80 assembly language. BASIC
on a Timex runs achingly slow, partic-
ularly since some 60% of the micro-
processor’s time is spent updating the
screen. Machine code programs, how-
ever, run literally hundreds of times as
fast as BASIC ones. Several good
books have been written about machine
code programming on the TS1000.
The best of these are two by Dr. Jan
Logan, whose knowledge of the ZX80
and 81 (predecessors of the TS1000)
is exceeded only by that of Clive Sin-
clair (inventor of these and the Spec-
trum, a version of which should now
be available, modified by Timex and
called the 2068).

You cannot write effective code
for these little wonders without know-
ing the entry points for the various
system variables. Melbourne House, an
international publishing company, has
Dr. Logan*s Understanding Your ZX8]
ROM, $14.95, and The Complete
TS 1000 /Sinclair ZX81 ROM Disassem-
bly, $19.95, and their own apparently
authorless Machine Language Program-
ming Made Simple for Your Sinclair &
Timex TS1000, $14.95. I have all three
of these, and they are excellent. Mel-
bourne also offers Not Only 30 Pro-
grams for the Sinclair ZX81, $9.95,
program listings that ingeniously all
run in the “‘unexpanded” TS1000 (2K
RAM), and what appears to be the
ultimate hardware manual for the two
“simpler” machines, The Ins and Outs
of the Timex TS1000 & ZX81, by Don
Thomasson, $12.95. Add $2 for p.&h.,
and residents of California, Maryland,
and Tennessee add sales tax. Melbourne
carries software and books for Timex,
TRS80, Vic 20, and Commodore 64.
They will send you a free catalog and
are looking for contributions from
authors.

Far better than hand-assembling
your machine code programs and then
trying to POKE them into various
memory locations is to use an assem-
bler. International Publishing & Soft-
ware Inc. offers ZX Assembler. It has

The following article by Michael Wiesenberg is reproduced with
permission from the December 1983 issue of Dr. Dobb's Journal.

its own éditor. You write programs
using standard Z80 mnemonics. No
need to figure jump addresses; just use
labels and the assembler figures them
for you. Programs assemble in seconds
and execute either directly from ZX
Assembler’s monitor mode or from a
program that executes with a USR
statement where the code is in a REM
statement created by the assembler.
The assembler also retains the source
code in a second REM statement.

You can SAVE the entire program
on tape, and alter, modify, and reassem-
ble it. Those familiar with machine code
on the TS will appreciate this method,
because code loaded in other areas is
either difficult to save or cannot use
relative addressing. In the monitor
mode you can move whole blocks of
code from one memory location to
another, examine and modify any loca-
tion of RAM, inspect and modify regis-
ters, and search the entire memory for
any byte sequence. ZX Assembler costs
$14.95. Internationa! Publishing pro-
vides a free catalog and the name of
the nearest dealer that handles this and
other useful products, including ZX
Bug, $14.95, for debugging, editing,
and running machine codes, Toolkit,
$14.95, to add nine powerful com-
mands, including a renumber that
changes all GOTO and GOSUB refer-
ences, Fastload, $19.95, to load any
program four to six times as fast, ZX
Forth, $29.95, for the ease of BASIC
with machine code speed, and a stack
of clever games.

If | knew that a product did not
live up to its claims, I would not list it
here. Usually I have no way of knowing
that, because I just go by the press re-
leases, which, naturally, are never unfa-
vorable. Such was the case with Memo-
tech, whose various memory modules
and auxiliary keyboard for the TS1000
I cited a few months back. I believed
their hype myself and shortly after-
ward bought their keyboard and 32K
memory for my system. That first 32K
memory didn’t work at all, and I took
it back to the store. The replacement
32K refused to work in conjunction
with either Memotech’s keybuard or
the Timex printer. This was not much
use to me since I needed the printer
for listings during program develop-
ment. I took my entire system to the
store, and they could get the 32K
memory and auxiliary keyboard to
work with their systems only separate-
ly, not together.

I called Memotech several times
for help, and they kept insisting that
they had tested a sctup identical to
mine with no problems. Finally they
agreed to look at my system if I would
send it tothem and, if either of their

products was defective, to replace or
fix it. I called them when the system
was in their hands, and the technician
to whom IJ spoke said he had set up
my system and it had been running
perfectly for ten minutes, and he
could find nothing wrong with it. But
while I] was on the phone with him he
said, **Wait a minute. It's failing.” He
conceded that there ‘“‘might” be a
problem with the memory module,
which Memotech replaced. They then
sent back my system.

When the system returned, again |
could make the 32K memory work by
itself only, not together with either the
Timex printer or Memotech’s keyboard.
The keyboard, too, only worked by
itself. The store from which ] bought
the memory unit was kind enough to
take it back in exchange for a Timex

16K memory (and even refunded the
difference in price!), with which I
have had no problems. J sent the key-
board back to Memotech, requesting
a refund, citing the ‘free ten-day trial
period” clause in their warranty, stat-
ing that, while the ten days had elapsed
all the problems had begun the instant
] began using the keyboard and that I
had been in contact with them right
from the start. They refused to give
me 8 refund, claiming that the refund
applied only to those who had pur-
chased directly from them, but instead
returned a replacement for my key-
board. If I wanted a refund, they told
me, I would have to get it where I
bought the keyboard.

The store, of course, did not want
to give me a refund, because the 1500
would soon be released with its “‘real”’
keyboard, and auxiliary keyboards for
Timex computers would soon be obso-
lete. They said that I should contact
Memotech for a refund. (My guess is
that Memotech is stuck with a ware-
house full of these useless keyboards.)
As I expected, the replacement worked
no better than the original. At this
point I no longer had their 32K mem-
oty, but the keyboard worked with
neither Timex’s printer nor the 16K
memory.

By this time I had heard from the
South Bay Area Timex/Sinclair Users’
Group (mentioned in my October
column) that Memotech was offering a
free “modification” to purchasers of
their 32K memories. It seems several
other people had discovered that their
memories did not work with Timex
printers. Yet all the time I had been in
communication with Memotech they
insisted there was no incompatibility
between their products and Timex

(CONT. NBXT PAGE)

ciate ain acreage AeA A NE

IMELI MES

(CONT. FROM PAGS 24)

printers; furthermore, they had never
heard of anyone having any problems
like mine. Alrogether, J went through
three 32K memory modules and two
keyboards without finding even onc I
could use.

Now Dr. Dobb’s has received a
press pack announcing Memotech’s
$595 MTX-$12 World Class Comput-
er™M. It has a Z80A 4MHz processor
with 80K standard RAM (expandable
to 512K; 16K is dedicated to video).
Among other things, it comes with
Oxford BASIC and a language called
NODDY, a real time clock, and a 79-
key keyboard. I hope this product is
better than the peripherals I couldn't
use, and that others will encounter
more competent service and better
support and attitude than I did. I
know Jl] never get the chance to find
out.

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SOFTWARE

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Card #> 2 Exp, date
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TIMEX

TIMEX/SINCLAIR FAMILY OF COMPUTERS...

co ru to CC CE EM aoe kK iL]
Sueesece
TIS1 500 - 16K $79. 95

7182068 - 48K

TIS1000 - 2K $ 3.95 Color & Sound $199.95

AND PERIPHERALS... ATTENTION

20-40% OFF
ON SELECTED

H/W & S/W
PRODUCTS.

TIS 2020
T/S2040 Printer $99.95 Cassette Player $49.95

TIS2050 Modem
Auto-Dial $119.95

COMPLETE SELECTION OF TIMEX/SINCLAIR SOFTWARE
SUNSET ELECTRONICS

(415) 665-8330
2254 Taraval St., San Francisco, CA 94116
Monday through Saturday 10-6 ° Sunday 10-3

IME IME * (CONT. FROM FRONT PAGE) sorteyvT MICRO SYSTEMS (Faster
a City): Dennis Gonzales caf

Plans to do this, they will hav eh dae ered ates SE ST tS: SO
to move fast before public handle Timex products when the
interest declines and production Nee tee em eR leased et
Facilities become committed ta eee ee ep tre t
Gther projects. TIMELINEZ wilt 5 UPR OT eee eee) Pat tS
monitor the situation closely Page’ t= see ew Lei gees tS oF
For any new developments, PREC Lea ee eee
In the meantime, we have Sue PANES Sage tt Cas vt
contacted a number of parties pp ga Oe NR a ha Spd ec
to learn of their plans. The NS Ae Seige 2 carne egg oo eel
Following iT Formation was rai Lity wis bb remain Cpe,
9athered From this sury
‘wean ee ae SINCLAIR RESEARCH: TIMELINEZ
Bey ARES USER SROURS = i 4 re contacted a SGuUrcEe Wi that
eser arolbe talan, business Ses Seer eet Se 2ee Sheet nee
usual. IF anything, the support nee he Pign ee greg ee. the
arid exchange of information coos MST Re ts VB ie, foes OF
between group members should eee. OUR 7 eee eat ke
became more important during Lp Ogee epee gee Oh SOME tes
this period of uncertainty. ere ees eek se ee TO eee “Set
Rita, Jcel and George ail report te Ee ere Oe ies |. Oar
that they plan na immediate a cca a ee ee

ramGES j rot , at . tf Wot wWiasiis Li : r SUQQESTL
SPONSES 10 Oo OEE Pe aa AP ies that they reconsider their
SYNC AND TyvS USER MAGAZINES. décision aboyvt TrS support write:
Sunc reports that they plan to 3 ne
continue with their bi-monthly sinclair Research sinclar Research
Format and that ad revenue = o@ Staniford St. OR 6 King’s Parade
Locks very good sa far. TyvS Suite O88 Cambridge, CBe i
User still plans to re-enter the Boston, MS @eli4d UK
market with an April issue,

a Titn
1

Bae a ; TIMELINES: We pian ta publish
SUNSET ELECTRONICS (San Fran. : this newsletter as long as we
SUMESEet plans to comtinue support cantinue to receive the support
For the Timex computer. Jor GF aur readers and advertisers,
reparts that he hat & Very Large We are particuiarly anxiaus to
Seiection of Hr and Sel on hand knci your Feelings canternimng
and he aitc hopes tao purchase these recent devetopments and
more Products from Timex the Future directicnhesycu think
inventory at discounted prices, cur groups shou td Roidaw

Cail For detaiis. 415-665-s3se Flease Let us HS airy Er Gf gc

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